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Neuralink looks to the public to solve a seemingly impossible problem (www.cbc.ca)

submitted 5 months ago by TheDudeV2@lemmy.ca to c/technology@lemmy.world

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Elon Musk's quest to wirelessly connect human brains with machines has run into a seemingly impossible obstacle, experts say. The company is now asking the public for help finding a solution.

Musk's startup Neuralink, which is in the early stages of testing in human subjects, is pitched as a brain implant that will let people control computers and other devices using their thoughts. Some of Musk's predictions for the technology include letting paralyzed people "walk again and use their arms normally."

Turning brain signals into computer inputs means transmitting a lot of data very quickly. A problem for Neuralink is that the implant generates about 200 times more brain data per second than it can currently wirelessly transmit. Now, the company is seeking a new algorithm that can transmit this data in a smaller package — a process called compression — through a public challenge.

As a barebones web page announcing the Neuralink Compression Challenge posted on Thursday explains, "[greater than] 200x compression is needed." The winning solution must also run in real time, and at low power.

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[–] SharkAttak@kbin.social 33 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Why should we? What's in it for us?

[–] QuadratureSurfer@lemmy.world 26 points 5 months ago

A job interview! (I wish I was joking).

The reward for developing this miraculous leap forward in technology? A job interview, according to Neuralink employee Bliss Chapman. There is no mention of monetary compensation on the web page.

[–] Gsus4@mander.xyz 15 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Nothing, but then you could patent it and license it to anyone but elon :) are you motivated yet?

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 14 points 5 months ago

You can have a free "flamethrower" cigarette lighter. The company is bankrupt, and musk has a warehouse if the things he didn't sell.

[+] BobGnarley@lemm.ee -6 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I mean damn bro helping humans potentially walk again is a pretty big "for us" thing if you think about it in terms of humankind and not just yourself. Like imagine if someone were trying to cure cancer with the help of the public and you're all like "well what the fuck is in it for ME though?"

[–] cestvrai@lemm.ee 11 points 5 months ago

Imagine we all pooled our resources to fund medical research through taxes only for private companies to exploit the technology and jack up the prices…

A brain implant for rich people isn’t necessarily “for us”.

[–] SharkAttak@kbin.social 1 points 5 months ago

Oh but I'm not saying this out of selfishness, the problem for me is not the cancer cure in itself, but who is doing the research..

the experiments on monkeys were questionable in method and nature, and led to death and madness;
the other chip installed in a human has already lost the majority of connection wires;
and not to forget, it's not been specified how the public giving the ideas, would benefit from it. Musk is not exactly known as the phylanthropic kind.